Have you heard of Muhammad Yunis? He was an economics professor in Bangladesh who realized that there were a lot of people just around the corner from his classroom that were living in poverty. He asked a woman who was weaving beautiful baskets (for a dealer) why she did not just purchase the bamboo herself and she explained that she could not afford the $.025 to purchase it. She made just enough to barely feed her family. He found many more women in the same situation. He went to the banks and inquired about loans but of course they would not consider loans for the poor. He started by taking out small loans and signing guarantees himself. He is credited with developing the concepts of microcredit and microfinance and created Grameen Bank, which now employs 14,000 people and their micro-loan payback rate is 98.9%. In 2006 Yunis and Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His passion is that humans and poverty are incongruent and he did something about it in a big way.
I was reminded of this great story of giving back this past week from a speaker at the local “Valley of the Sun American Society of Training and Development” conference. It is inspiring. How can you give back and make a difference? Please take the time to learn about the issues in your community and then vote and consider volunteering your time or money as we go into this season of giving.
Two organizations that are doing amazing things (click on links to see their sites) here in the Phoenix area are Fresh Start and Florence Crittenton. I am grateful for the opportunity to do pro-bono seminars at Fresh Start and to be working on a volunteer coaching program between my ICF (International Coaching Federation) Phoenix chapter and Florence Crittenton. Also, did you know that there is both a federal and Arizona state tax credit for donations that qualify as giving to the “working poor?” Click on this Florence Crittenton link to learn more.
What inspiring stories of community involvement or volunteering will you share? Please leave a comment.
photocredit: United Nations Photo (via Flickr creative commons)